Front Range
SnowpackJustin Peacock · Jan 12, 2013 · Front Range
Weather
Cold! brrr! Sunny in the AM, and little to no wind. Beautiful day!
Snowpack
Local overnight winds seemed to have been primarily from the north as we found little evidence of the new wind slabs in this area. Fetches and pockets definitely housed wind affected new snow, but there was little to no loading to the north facing slopes. The rest of the snowpack, however, was completely faceted on N. Skiers have evidently been triggering loose snow avalanches to the ground in numerous places NTL. We were able to kick off several of these, about a ski width wide, one of which ran approximately 200' down the slope. Older loose snow avalanches were also roughly a ski width wide and ran anywhere from 20-50' depending on the terrain. They were only 12" deep. The hazard would be getting caught up in one of these and sliding over rocks on a steep slope. ATL there was wind loading in the flats below the Knoll, but no significant cracking or whumpfing. Test slopes revealed very isolated shallow soft slabs that would break less than the width of your skis.